Sonny Gray to make first spring training start for A’s

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Sonny Gray delivers against the Cleveland Indians during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 31, 2016, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Sonny Gray delivers against the Cleveland Indians during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 31, 2016, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Photo: Ron Schwane, Associated Press

Photo: Ron Schwane, Associated Press

Image
1of/3

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 3

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Sonny Gray delivers against the Cleveland Indians during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 31, 2016, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Sonny Gray delivers against the Cleveland Indians during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 31, 2016, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Photo: Ron Schwane, Associated Press

Sonny Gray to make first spring training start for A’s

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

PHOENIX — Excuse those on the A’s who collectively exhaled when Sonny Gray was denied a spot in the World Baseball Classic.

Not that they didn’t want to see their start pitcher perform on an international stage. But because they were able to keep him in A’s camp throughout March.

Gray will make his first spring training start Wednesday when the A’s play the Padres at the Peoria Stadium. He’s expected to pitch two innings.

“I was actually looking forward to him going and pitching,” manager Bob Melvin said, referring to the WBC. “He was ready to go. He wanted to. If he wanted to, I was fine with it.

“But with anybody, there’s the degree that when they’re not with you, there’s some unertaintly. So in that regard, it’s not a bad thing he’s here with us.”

Gray dropped out of the WBC when denied insurance coverage based on his significant time on the disabled list last season.

More on top draftee: A day after first-round pick A.J. Puk struck out all three batters he faced, Melvin gave a glowing report. The 6-foot-7 lefty reached 96 mph on the radar gun and displayed all four of his pitches: fastball, slider, curve and changeup.

“True four-pitch mix,” Melvin said. “This is a guy we envision being a starter, and being able to do that at the big-league level and pitch deep into games, you need more of a pitch complement, and he has that.”

The day of the draft, Puk said on a conference call his changeup was “developing.” His curve was basically nonexistent. Tuesday, Puk threw a few curves and changeups and had good command through his inning.